Despite financial hardships, Saloni topped Lucknow’s St Anjani’s Public School by scoring 97% in the science stream. Saloni, whose father does odd jobs of painting houses after being laid off from a private company to support the family said that its a big occation for her family.

“It is a big day for our family,” , said Saloni Maurya, who could not hold her tears when she checked the results of her CBSE Class 12 board examination. Saloni obtained a perfect 100 in multimedia and web technology, 98 in physical education, 97 in chemistry and 95 in physics and English.

Manager of the St Anjani’s Public School, Taru Saxena, said Saloni has been an extraordinary child with an indomitable will to excel in everything she undertook.

“I will remain indebted to my school for it has given me all possible support to create a great life and taking care of many of my financial burdens by waiving off fees,” Saloni, who has been studying on scholarship since Class 1, said. Her school has a dedicated project to take bright but underprivileged children under its wing.

Saloni is also an excellent orator and has participated in inter-school debates on the state level. Saloni has also cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main and is she wants to be an IAS officer after pursuing engineering from one of the IITs.

Saloni won the Bal Ratna Khoj Award organised by Kabir Peace Mission in 2014 and was given the Inspire Award scholarship by the department of science and technology and Amity University after scoring a 10 CGPA in Class 10.